Prawns thali, here I come. Review on Nav Chaitanya, Andheri West, Mumbai

Ok, so we have a clear winner here. There''s very rarely a place found in Bombay which serves a CRAB Thali. Woohoo!. I was apprehensive before calling for this, but what the heck, today I was allowed to indulge. So the braveheart ordered it, silently bowing to the invisible applause. And when the thali arrived, it had a large, yes, definitely a large crab, pincers, claws and all - served in an orange coconutty gravy. And of course, they brought in a nutcracker as well, presuming that I possessed the art of defanging and declawing and deshelling the monster. Which I did of course. The thali also had three pieces of soft-shelled crab toffees. Like you could crack them in one bite. Two jumbo chapattis, one platter of white rice, unlimited solkadi, one fish gravy, one veggie of the day,. Drool. It was a messy affair, sleeves rolled up, both hands negotiating with the crustacean, but the soft meat inside was like a reward after the struggle. As Jim Carey would say -BEAutiful.

The wife called for a veg Thali, which was mighty in its own right - usal, dal, kheer, dahi, cauliflower veggie et al. And the daughter made the wise choice of Surmai Thali. This again had a huge steak of the princely machchhi along with the other accompaniments. This place definitely doesn''t believe in penny-pinching.

The other two items, ukadiche modak and kokam sarbat, both are avoidable. But that''s small collateral damage to the otherwise exotic affair. Definitely a yes for next time. Prawns thali, here I come.